Not since The Scorpions have I had so much fun listening to German Heavy Metal. (Sorry, Rammstein, industrial metal is cool, but not as fun). One of the many metal albums my friend lent to me for listening and review was A Twist in the Myth by Blind Guardian. 

Blind Guardian

Blind Guardian is a heavy metal band formed in the hey day of heavy metal, the 1980s.  Their first album Battalions of Fear came out in 1988, Twist in the Myth, reviewed here, is the bands 8th studio album. The bands leader Hansi Kursch is the bass player and lead vocalist. I can tell you Kursch has a great voice for heavy metal. He sings in legible English on the albums, and he has a voice that fits right in with great heavy metal singers like Klause Meine or Rob Halford. He has a voice full of power that can belt out songs and hit those high notes. The band started off as primarily speed metal, but progressed into a power metal band. 

A Twist in the Myth

An epic sounding album, A Twist inthe Myth, is the 8th studio album by Blind Guardian. It was released in 2006 on the Nuclear Blast label.

The main band on this is Hansi Kursch on vocals (he gave up bass playing to focus on singing midway through the bands career), Andre Olbrich lead guitar, Marcus Siepen Rythm guitar and Frederik Ehmke on drums, assorted percussion, flute and bagpipes. Just ask AC/DC, it just isn't heavy metal unless you play some bagpipes.  Also on the album was Oliver Holzwart on bass and on choir, Olaf Senkbeil, Rolf Kohler and Thomas Hackmann. Many of the songs feature a choir, it adds to the epic quality of the music. On keyboards were Martin G. Meyer and Pat Benzner.  The album reached #4 in Germany, if only #288 in the USA.

The Songs on this album are This Will Never End, Otherland, Turn the Page, Fly, Carry the Blessed Home, Another Stranger Me, Straight Through the Mirror, Lionheart, Skalds and Shadows, The Edge and The New Order. My copy also had a bonus track Dead Sound of Misery and interviews with the band.

Rather than go into a track by track description, I will describe a few key tracks in detail, and you can determine for yourself whether it sounds like your cup of mead.

First to reiterate, the band is a power metal band, I really like their singer Hansi Kursch, he has a very good voice. The band has a very epic grand sound. Each song sounds like it is a tale of legendary feats and exploits, the overall tone of the album is very upbeat and grandiose.

The album opens with This Will Never End with sweeping guitar riffs and some Aah aaahaahs worthy of The Immigrant Song intro from Led Zeppelin III.  Hansi soon comes in singing Once upon a time, no more words to say, find me in the circle find me in the end.  The choruses are shouted out between verses I have thought that this would never end and things go on, but nothing will last, only the fool in me believes there is a sense it it.  The bass line and the drumming insistently move the track along at a fast pace.  Fast pace guitar soloes follow along with the fast paced rhythm of the song.

Turn the Page is not a cover of Bob Seger's tune, it is an original song by the band. It is a song based in myths and legends of someone foretold to lead.  It is another grandiose sounding song with very full sounding music backing each verse and chorus and fast paced solos in between verses.

Fly  is defintely a song about Peter Pan coming to take Wendy and her brothers to Never Never land.  Step out of line, and I'll teach you how to fly, then away we'll go leave your mark land of mine, leave your make in the land of mine. The verse that gives it away? The second one to the right, and then straigt on until morning light. I'm pretty sure that those are the directions to Neverland.  The chorus is an infectious No One ever dares to speak, it's nothing else but fantasy, but one day it will all come to life. I am sure that J.M. Barry would love this song, I know I did.  I never quite pictured Pan's journey as so metal. The bass and the lead guitar guide us through the song with a heavy melodic line.

Skalds and Shadows is a medieval song that made me think of Jethro Tull.  It would fit right in with the soundtrack of a fantasy role playing game.  Songs I will sing of runes and rings, just hand me my harp, this night turns into myth, nothing seems real, you soon will feel, the world we live in is another skalds  (a skald was a poet in the Viking age)  I could definitely play this song in my castle in Rimmington (in the south-west of Asgarnia),  while telling of my epic quests in the land of Runescape* (a popular online fantasy mmorpg that my son and I play).  The song begins with folksy guitar playing as Hansi sings of songs of old. The choruses chime in giving the ancient myths a sense of grandeur. The song has a melody that just haunts you. It sounds as timeless as Greensleeves, and even features some flutes.  Do you believe there is sense in it, is it truth or myth, they're one in my rhymes.

I really liked this album, my first reaction listening to it in full was to call my friend and request some addtional albums by the band. It is the sort of metal that one can crank up and it is quite melodic. The lyrics conjure up worlds of fantasy and myth.

Summary

Blind Guardian is a great heavy metal band from Germany. Their melodic metal is fun to listen to, and Hansi is a very good singer. I gave it five stars, and I am looking forward to listening to more albums by them.




*Rimmington, Asgarnia and Runescape are trademarked by Jagex, Inc. 

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